Cytochrome c oxidase (COX) was initially purified more than 70 years ago. A tremendous amount of insight into its structure and function has since been gleaned from biochemical, biophysical, genetic and molecular studies. As a result, we now appreciate that COX relies on its redox-active metal centers (heme a and a 3 , Cu A and Cu B ) to reduce oxygen and pump protons in a reaction essential for most eukaryotic life. Questions persist, however, about how individual structural subunits are assembled into a functional holoenzyme. Here, we focus on what is known and what remains to be learned about the accessory proteins that facilitate Cu A site maturation.
COX is a multi-subunit enzyme of dual genetic originCOX is a member of the A1 subgroup of a diverse superfamily of hemecopper oxidases. Embedded in the inner mitochondrial membrane, it is a multimeric protein complex comprised of structural subunits that are encoded by two distinct genomes. The three largest of these, COX1-3, are mitochondrially-encoded and form the catalytic core of the enzyme. COX1 contains the two heme (a, a 3 ) moieties and a mononuclear Cu B center, all of which are buried within the lipid bilayer in the fully assembled holoenzyme. COX2 harbors a mixed valence, binuclear Cu A site within a cupredoxin fold that is localized to the intermembrane space (IMS) and is solvent exposed. The Cu A site accepts electrons from cytochrome c, and subsequent electron transfer steps to the heme a and then the heme a 3 -Cu B metal centers of COX1 ultimately allow COX to convert molecular oxygen to water. Four protons are pumped across the membrane during each catalytic cycle, and contribute to the electrochemical gradient that is required for aerobic ATP production. The catalytic core is surrounded by a variable number of nuclear-encoded structural subunits (8 in yeast, 11 in humans), which function collectively to stabilize the holoenzyme, provide sites for the allosteric modulation of its catalytic activity, and facilitate its organization into higher order structures termed supercomplexes or respirasomes (reviewed in (1,2)). High resolution structures of mammalian COX (3) and of mammalian respirasomes that contain COX (8,(4) have been invaluable to advancing our understanding of how inter-subunit interactions impinge upon enzyme activity and dimerization, and the integration of COX into higher order structures.http://www.jbc.org/cgi